It was scrappy, it was messy, but West Ham only saw the beauty. They celebrated wildly when Michail Antonio bundled the ball over the line with 15 minutes left, completing a turnaround few people had anticipated, and in those moments it was possible to forget that the evening had been such a slog. Perhaps, then, it will only be when the dust settles that West Ham remember that they were going nowhere until the AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper Mat Ryan misjudged the flight of the ball and almost took Jarrod Bowen’s head off midway through the second half.
Nobody should make the mistake of thinking that David Moyes’s side are assured of reaching their first European final since 1976. In truth they toiled for long spells against a limited AZ side, creating little and treating the ball with insufficient care. Their football was unimaginative, too reliant on physical power and counterattacks, and for a while it seemed that the first leg of this Europa Conference League semi-final would be defined by Alphonse Areola handing AZ the lead when he allowed a soft shot from Tijjani Reijnders to squirm past him.
Nonetheless Moyes will take heart from West Ham finding a way to take control of the tie before travelling to the Alkmaar for the second leg. The mood turned when Ryan fouled Bowen and Saïd Benrahma equalised from the spot. Soon it was 2-1, Antonio scoring after a scramble, and West Ham finally had their young opponents where they wanted them.
They could tell themselves that this was an important step. West Ham failed to handle the occasion when they faced Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals of the Europa League last year. They lacked nous and were always chasing the game after conceding in the first minute of the first leg, but it was different against AZ. This time West Ham responded to adversity. They were resilient enough to keep plugging away and, if they are capable of dealing with AZ’s ability to hoard possession, they will back themselves to cause problems on the break given that Pascal Jansen’s side will have to commit men forward.
Equally Moyes was not entirely happy with West Ham’s performance against the fourth best team in the Eredivisie. The Scot saw a lack of quality in the final third and he wondered if his forwards were overexcited. Everything felt too frantic, although West Ham did have a few early openings. There was a chance for Bowen, who headed Declan Rice’s cross over, and Benrahma forced Ryan to make one outstanding save.
AZ struggled to hurt West Ham. They built up slowly, trying to draw the sting, carefully looking for space on the flanks. Openings were rare, although there was a moment when Vangelis Pavlidis almost broke through. Kurt Zouma, back in central defence after Angelo Ogbonna was taken unwell, saved West Ham with a timely interception.
West Ham looked comfortable without the ball, although there was a question over whether they saw enough of it. They needed more precision and Benrahma and Bowen were short of composure on the flanks. Lucas Paquetá’s final ball was lacking and Antonio’s hold-up play needed to improve.
A stoppage-time goal from Zeki Amdouni earned Basel a 2-1 win at Fiorentina in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final to make the Swiss side favourites to reach the final.
Arthur Cabral put the hosts in front after 25 minutes with a header, his seventh goal of this season's competition. Andy Diouf equalised for Basel after 71 minutes with a well-placed low shot from just outside the box and Amdouni silenced the Italian fans three minutes into added time with the winner.
The return leg will be played next Thursday.
The frustration for Paquetá rose when he went down after being beaten to a header by Sam Beukema. It was a fair challenge from the centre-back and West Ham were too focused on complaining to the Turkish referee, Halil Meler. They were not alive to the danger when AZ broke through Myron van Brederode. Sven Mijnans found Reijnders, West Ham backed off and the midfielder’s shot from 25 yards caught Areola out at his near post.
It was not a surprise to hear the home fans lash out at the officials at half-time. Yet there was no reason to disallow the goal. West Ham needed to look closer to home. Where was the pressure on Reijnders? Why had Moyes brought Areola in for Lukasz Fabianski when most teams resist the urge to rest their No 1 goalkeeper in the big games?
West Ham grew tense. They snatched at passes and overhit crosses. There were howls when Nayef Aguerd miscued a long pass. West Ham were forcing it and allowing AZ’s time-wasting to get under their skin. There were ironic cheers when Jordy Clasie was booked for taking too long over a free-kick, but the mood was fraught. Bowen threatened, shooting just wide, but it did not feel particularly encouraging to see a flick from Paquetá go out for a throw.
The comfort for West Ham, though, was that AZ were not threatening to score again. Midway through the second half they pumped a cross to the far post. Tomas Soucek headed it back and in went Bowen, getting to the ball just before Ryan and then going to ground after being caught by the goalkeeper’s attempted punch.
It was rash from Ryan. Benrahma buried the penalty and West Ham pushed again. AZ failed to clear a corner and Rice picked up possession on the left. He crossed, Aguerd’s effort was cleared off the line and Antonio forced the rebound in. West Ham were halfway to next month’s final in Prague.
